Information Before You Order NSCAW
Overview
There is no cost to order NSCAW data. Two different versions of the NSCAW data are available to members of the research community who meet eligibility criteria and agree to the requirements of the data license. The NDACAN distribution of NSCAW data has been established in consultation with the Research Triangle Institute and the NSCAW Research Group, to permit dissemination of NSCAW data to responsible researchers while satisfying concerns about respondent anonymity.
The least restrictive version is known as the NSCAW General Release Data. Identifying information and geographic detail have been removed from this version and variables posing a risk of respondent disclosure have been recoded to make identification of individuals unlikely. NDACAN recommends that researchers initially obtain the General Release Data when they are learning to use the NSCAW data.
If you plan to publish research results using NSCAW data, NDACAN highly recommends that researchers obtain the NSCAW Restricted version for publication-level research, not the General Release version. The General Release version is only suitable for gaining an understanding of the study structure and the required statistical methods, but the Restricted Release version has more data and greater research utility because geographic detail is present and fewer variables have been recoded. For more information about why the Restricted Release is recommended over than the General Release, please contact NDACAN.
The NSCAW Restricted Release presents a higher risk to respondent confidentiality than the NSCAW General Release Data, and are, therefore, only made available to researchers who can justify a need for high level access and who are willing to follow additional application requirements.
If you are unsure whether the NSCAW Restricted Release version contains variables that will address your research topic, please e-mail NDACANsupport@cornell.edu with your complete contact information in your signature to request the NSCAW Restricted Release documentation.
Eligibility to Obtain NSCAW Data
NSCAW General Release: these data are available to most researchers and requires submission of the NDACAN Terms of Use Agreement.
NSCAW Restricted Release: Researchers must apply to receive the NSCAW Restricted data by providing completed forms and other documents as described on the web page for requesting the NSCAW Restricted data. One requirement to obtain these data is that you be a researcher at an organization with an Institutional Review Board/Human Subjects Review Committee (IRB) that is registered with the U.S. Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP). The OHRP certifies institutions whose IRBs have met certain procedural criteria. NDACAN will handle on a case-by-case basis any requests by researchers from organizations without IRBs registered with OHRP. NDACAN will have full discretion in deciding whether a researcher meets eligibility criteria.
Please note: employees at child welfare agencies are not presently eligible to obtain any version of the NSCAW data.
Student Access
A student cannot request the NSCAW Restricted data directly. A faculty member at the student's institution must request the data and serve as the Investigator for license purposes, and can designate the student as an additional researcher. The faculty member submits a Research Staff Form which, upon NDACAN approval, allows the student to use the NSCAW Restricted Data. The faculty member and the institution bear full responsibility for ensuring that all conditions of the agreement are met by the student. NSCAW Restricted Data are licensed to individual researchers and their approved Research Staff but cannot be used for classroom instruction.
NSCAW Restricted Data: Research Teams Consisting of Persons Employed at Different Institutions
If an Investigator would like to use the NSCAW Restricted Data in collaboration with researchers at another institution, then the researchers at the second institution must apply for and receive their own separate NSCAW Restricted Data license from NDACAN. This includes situations when an Investigator contracts with a firm to perform programming services using the data i.e. both the Investigator's organization and the firm performing the programming must have separate Licenses.
NSCAW File Format and Sizes
Data files are distributed in SPSS, SAS, and STATA compatible formats.
If you're ordering NSCAW Restricted Release, then you will receive both NSCAW RR I and II.
Approximate File sizes:
- NSCAW I General Release: 2 Gigabytes
- NSCAW II General Release: 1.02 Gigabytes
- NSCAW I Restricted Release: 2.3 Gigabytes
- NSCAW II Restricted Release: 1.2 Gigabytes
NSCAW Data Delivery
NSCAW General Release datasets are distributed through box.com: users will need to create a free account on box.com to download the data within a time limit. NSCAW Restricted Release datasets are distributed via secure FTP. Users will receive detailed instructions and a time-limited link to download the data.
NSCAW Restricted License Maintenance and Duration
The NSCAW license is a legal document created by NDACAN, RTI International, and Cornell University. No changes to the license language are permissible. On request, NDACAN can provide clarification on the meaning and scope of any section of the license.
An NSCAW Restricted Release License lasts for 3 years, after which time you need to Replace or Terminate the license. Please follow the appropriate instructions for
Replacing or Terminating your NSCAW RESTRICTED Data License
/
